The Unassuming Economist

From a new IMF Working Paper:

“How important are female workers for economic growth? This paper presents empirical evidence that an increase in female labor force participation is positively associated with labor productivity growth. Using panel data for 10 Canadian provinces over 1990–2015, we found that a 1 percentage point increase in the labor force participation among women with high educational attainment would raise Canada’s overall labor productivity growth by 0.2 to 0.3 percentage point a year. This suggests that if the current gap of 7 percentage points between male and female labor force participation with high educational attainment were eliminated, the level of real GDP could be about 4 percent higher today. The government has appropriately stepped up its efforts to improve gender equality, as part of its growth strategy. In particular, the government’s plan to expand access to affordable child care is a positive step. However, we argue that to maximize the policy outcome given a budget constraint, provision of subsidized child care—including publicly funded child care spaces—should be better targeted to working parents.”

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The IMF latest report on St. Kitts and Nevis points out that: “The government, through the National Housing Corporation (NHC), is devoting significant resources to foster home ownership through several programs, although not particularly targeting lowest income households. One program provides grants up to $10,000 to make critical repairs and basic improvements to homes (by 2016, assistance was granted to 150 households). And under the Habitat Independence 30 Programme, by 2016 the NHC sourced EC$15 million to facilitate the completion of 115 homes. By 2016, the NHC and the National Bank assisted 43 individuals to construct homes on their lots. The NHC has also introduced a mortgage payment assistance system (named ‘Pay As You Earn’), which progressively sets interest rates on mortgages according to income levels of the applicant. This system was created to address the high incidence of NPLs listed with the NHC. The government is now introducing another housing scheme, “Unity Housing Solutions,” which will provide housing for more than 300 families. “

The IMF’s latest report on United Arab Emirates notes that “The authorities expect housing market to bottom out in 2017, in part due to Expo 2020 investment. Discussions with market analysts suggest that the real estate market is close to balance but is facing headwinds ahead because of rising supply, government’s fiscal restraint, higher interest rates, and stronger exchange rate.”

The IMF’s latest report on Poland notes that “the stock of foreign-currency mortgages continues to decline”.

On cross-country:

• How Advanced Economies Tackle Housing Market Imbalances: Lessons for Canada – IMF
• Confronting the Urban Housing Crisis in the Global South: Adequate, Secure, and Affordable Housing – World Resource Institute
• Housing and the tax system: how large are the distortions in the euro area? – European Central Bank

On the US:

• Homeownership and the Racial Wealth Divide – Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• Are Immigrant and Minority Homeownership Rates Gaining Ground in the US? – SSRN
• HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan on all things housing – Milken Institute
• Linking Residents to Opportunity: Gentrification and Public Housing – US Department of Housing and Urban Development

On other countries:

•  [Australia] The Rise and Rise of Medium Density Housing – CoreLogic
• [Canada] Macroprudential Tools at Work in Canada – IMF
• [Ghana] Housing transformation and livelihood outcomes in Accra, Ghana – ScienceDirect
• Israel Faces End of Decade-Long Housing Boom – Bloomberg
• [Japan] The Reverse Mortgage Market in Japan and Its Challenges – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
• [Norway] Chart of the Week: Norway’s Home-Price Boom – IMF
• UK Residential Market Update – Knight Frank
• [United Kingdom] English Housing Survey 2015 to 2016: potential for stock improvements – UK Gov